As announced by EUROPE (see EUROPE 12581/32), the Council of the EU imposed sanctions on Thursday 15 October against six Russian officials and the State Scientific Research Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology, which it said were involved in the attempted assassination of political opponent Alexei Navalny.
They are subject to an asset freeze and a travel ban within the EU under the regime of restrictive measures against the proliferation and use of chemical weapons.
The EU has decided to sanction the State Scientific Research Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology, a Russian state research institute responsible for the destruction of chemical weapons stockpiles inherited from the Soviet Union, considering that the deployment of a nerve agent from the Novichok group would only be possible because of a failure by the Institute to fulfil its responsibility to destroy these stockpiles.
The Deputy Minister in the Russian Ministry of Defence, Aleksey Krivoruchko, who has overall responsibility for armaments, and a Deputy Minister, Pavel Popov, who has overall responsibility for research activities, are subject to measures. For the EU, “as the Ministry of Defence has overall responsibility for the safe storage and destruction of chemical weapons, the use of such chemical weapons on the territory of the Russian Federation could only have been the result of intent or negligence on the part of the Ministry of Defence and its political leadership”. Thus, the EU believes that these two Deputy Ministers are responsible for assisting those who committed or were involved in the poisoning of Mr Navalny with the nerve agent Novichok.
The Head of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Russian presidential administration, Andrei Yarin, who is also a member of a working group whose role is to combat the influence of Alexei Navalny in Russian society, is sanctioned, as is the first deputy to the head of the presidential administration, Sergey Kirienko, who is, in this capacity, responsible for internal affairs, including political groups and activities.
Alexander Bortnikov is also affected by the measures, because “it is reasonable to conclude that the poisoning was only possible with the involvement of the Federal Security Service”, of which he is the director.
Finally, the Russian President’s plenipotentiary representative in the Siberian Federal District, Sergey Menailo, is sanctioned, held responsible, inter alia, for the implementation of the State’s internal and external policies.
According to the EU, in view of their responsibilities, these four men are responsible “for inciting the poisoning of Alexei Navalny with the nerve agent Novichok and for providing support to those who committed or were involved in this poisoning”. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)